Petrick said the national measures of the labor market such as the number of overtime hours worked or the number of temporary jobs being created have been disappointing in recent weeks.

“With unemployment so high, consumption is so low,” Petrick said. “That doesn’t give companies a reason to expand and hire more people.”

At 11.7 percent, Springfield’s May 2011 unemployment rate ranked seventh-highest in the state. Provincetown was highest at 19.7 percent. Holyoke’s unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in May compared with 10.2 percent in April and 10.9 percent a year before.

The statewide seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in both May and April, down from 8.3 percent in June.

Adjusted for seasonal changes, the state’s unemployment fell to 7.6 percent in May. The national unemployment rate was 9.1 percent in both April and May.

Economist Michael D. Goodman, chairman of the public policy department at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, said these numbers show that older “gateway cities” like Springfield and Holyoke are being left behind.

Jobs are growing in high-tech industries centered in and around Boston, he said.

“In Springfield, not so much,” Goodman said. “It puts cities like Springfield in a bad position as the state’s economy continues to improve.”

The falling statewide unemployment means that Massachusetts residents no longer qualify for some extended unemployment benefits, weeks 87 to 93, said Rena Kottcamp, director of research for the state Division of Unemployment Assistance.

Greater Springfield added 4,700 jobs in May, Kottcamp said. Those jobs came in varied parts of the economy, including leisure and hospitality, construction, trade and transportation, government, professional scientific and business services and in manufacturing.

Manufacturing added 100 jobs this month, Kottcamp said, but she didn’t know where or at what company. She has job statistics only for areas, not for individual cities and towns.

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage for all employees in the Greater Springfield was $23.35 in May, up from $23.30 in April and $23.22 in May 2010.

Petrick said tornado cleanup efforts are likely to boost employment in construction, a sector of the economy hard-hit by the recession.

“I hope that it means a majority of local companies and local workers will get a shot at that work,” he said.